Freddy Mercury's death's anniversary

Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on Thursday September 5th 1946 on the small spice island of Zanzibar. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were both Parsee (Persian). In 1954, at the age of eight, Freddie was shipped to St Peter's English boarding school in Panchgani, about fifty miles outside Bombay. It was there his friends began to call him Freddie, a name the family also adopted.

As St Peter's was an English school, the sports played there were typically English. Freddie loathed cricket and long-distance running, but he liked hockey, sprint and boxing. At the age of 10 he became a school champion in table tennis. Freddie was not only a good sportsman, his artistic skills were incomparable. At the age of twelve he was awarded the school trophy as Junior All-rounder. He loved art.

The principal headmaster of St Peter's had noticed Freddie's musical talent, and wrote to his parents suggesting that they might wish to pay a little extra on Freddie's school fees to enable him to study music properly. They agreed, and Freddie began to learn to play the piano. He also became a member of the school choir and took part regularly in school theatrical productions.

In 1958, five friends at St Peter's formed the school's rock'n roll band, the Hectics, where Freddie was the piano player.

In 1962, Freddie finished school, returned to Zanzibar. In 1964, many of the British and Indians, due to political unrest in Zanzibar, left their country, and migrated to England. Initially they lived with relatives in Feltham, Middlesex, until they were able to find their own small, terraced house in the area.

Freddie was seventeen, and had derided he wanted to go to art college, but needed at least one A level to ensure he could get in. In September 1964 he enrolled at the nearby Isleworth Polytechnic.

He studied hard, although he preferred the aesthetic side of school life to the more mundane academic side, and easily achieved his Art A level, leaving Isleworth in the spring of 1966. His grade A pass and his natural skill ensured that he was readily accepted by Ealing College of Art and, in September 1966, Freddie began a graphic illustrating course at that college.

After Jimi Hendrix exploded onto the scene in 1967, and Freddie became an ardent fan, he spent time sketching and drawing his hero;A fellow student at Ealing College was bass player Tim Staffell, with whom Freddie became good friends. As Tim's and Freddie's friendship became closer, Tim took him along to rehearsals of his band called Smile, with Brian May on the guitar and Roger Taylor on the drums. Freddie got on famously with Brian and Roger and loved the sound that Smile had achieved; he also had immense admiration and respect for Brian's guitar-playing. Inspired by Smile, Freddie began to experiment with music for the first time since leaving India.

Freddie left Ealing College in June 1969, with a diploma in graphic art and design, and a few commissions for adverts in local newspapers. That summer opened a stall with Roger at Kensington Market, initially selling artwork by himself and fellow Ealing students, and later Victorian or whatever clothes, new and secondhand, he could lay his hands on.

In the summer of 1969 Freddie was introduced to a Liverpool band called Ibex. Freddie first met Ibex on 13th August 1969. Everything he did on stage later in Queen, he was doing with Ibex at his first gig.

The Sour Milk Sea band offered him the job, and in late 1969 Freddie became the lead singer.

In April 1970 Tim Staffell decided to leave Smile, and Freddie join them as lead singer. Freddie decided to change the name of the band to Queen, he also changed his last name to Mercury.

The further biography of Freddie Mercury is to considerable degree a story of Queen.

In 1970 Freddie met Mary Austin. They lived together for seven years and remained good friends until his death.

In 1971 John Deacon joined the band and Queen were complete. Freddie designed the band's logo using their birth signs: two fairies for him (Virgo), two lions for Roger and John (Leo) and a crab for Brian (Cancer). Freddie was the author of the first Queen song that entered the British charts (Seven Seas Of Rhye), the first big hit (Killer Queen) and the most famous Queen song that was on the top of charts for 9 weeks (Bohemian Rhapsody). Freddie has always been considered the front-man of the band.


On October 7th, 1979 Freddie performed with the Royal Ballet. He had never done any ballet before, but it was something he had always wanted to try. The songs he had chosen to perform to were Bohemian Rhapsody and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Songs were played by the orchestra with Freddie doing live vocals.

In 1980 Freddie changed his image. He cut his hair and grew a moustache.

At the end of 1982 Queen all agreed they wanted to take break from each other. They announced they wouldn't be touring throughout 1983.
In 1983 Freddie attended a performance of Verdi's Un Ballo In Maschera at the Royal Opera House sometime in May. It was the first time when he saw Spanish opera diva Montserrat Caballé.



July 13, 1985 was a special day for Queen and Freddie. It was the day of their memorable performance at Live Aid, a tremendous show at Wembley Stadium in front of 72,000 people. Live Aid was also broadcast to over one billion people worldwide. Queen secured their place in history, as every media person, journalist, fan and critic unanimously agreed: Queen stole the show.

The early part of 1987 was very quiet for Queen, so Freddie took the opportunity to go into Townhouse Studios to do some solo work. It resulted in a remake of the classic Platters' song The Great Pretender. The single was released on February 23rd.

In March 1987 Freddie flew to Barcelona to meet Montserrat Caballé. He gave her a cassette with two or four songs. The Spanish opera diva liked these songs and even performed one of them at London's Covent Garden. Freddie was delighted. In early April, Freddie began work on the album he agreed to record with Montserrat Caballé.

At the end of May the island of Ibiza staged a huge festival at the outrageous Ku Club. Freddie agreed to be a guest of honour and closed the event with Montserrat Caballé singing the song he had written for her and her home city, Barcelona.

On October 8th, 1988 Freddie and Montserrat appeared at the huge open air La Nit festival in Barcelona. They performed three tracks from their forthcoming album - How Can I Go On, The Golden Boy and Barcelona, accompanied by Mike Moran on piano. The long-awaited album, Barcelona, finally come out on October 10th.

October 8th was the last time Freddie Mercury performed on stage. At the time, he was terribly ill with AIDS, although he didn't want people to know about it. He announced that fact the day before he died. Being ill he continued to compose and record songs and even took part in making videos. In my opinion, I'm Going Slightly Mad video is his masterpiece.

On November 24th, 1991 Freddie died peacefully at his home in London of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia.

On April 20th, 1992 a tribute concert in Freddie's memory was held at Wembley Stadium, and many famous rock stars took part in it. But the best tribute to Freddie was the album Made In Heaven, released on November 6th, 1995 by the three remaining members of Queen. We can hear the last songs that Freddie composed and recorded.

Thank you Freddie. We love you.